my lovebird thats been with me 2 years is sick and I couldnt find anything about him

[codexion]

So I had a lovebird for just over 2 years now. Since everyone at the house started to work/school this year there wouldnt be anyone home. So we got him a pair and thats not the problem. But a couple months after the new one came in the older bird I have is acting weird. Having HUGE droppings nearly bigger than the size of his head. Ive been giving him greens like lettuce and such which helped with the droppings but he is still really defensive(he used to come to my hand when I called him but now he just looks at me and whenever I try to approach him he just lunges forward for a bite...(and I know this is what birds do when they are weak )) with him eating more lettuce his stomach which was huge is fine again. But he is constantly (every 30 seconds or so) doing this shaking his leg thing as if he was trying to scratch his head(which he used to do and still does) but he just shakes his feet in the air for like a second really fast and stops again. Sadly there are no parrot/avian/bird vets in my country and as a last resort I have come here in hopes that someone could help me. If the text wasnt clear enough I could record a video on what he does and try to post it here( dont know how to do it would have to look it up).

also looking close up his wings are also shaking more than usual and he used to breathe faster than regular as well.

 

[itzjbean]

Sorry to hear you are having troubles with your lovebird.

When you get another bird for another bird, they tend to want to pair and not interact as much with people. So what you are seeing (the lunging, aggression towards you, not tame anymore) it is normal for lovebirds that are in a pair. Do you know for certain if they are male and female?

What are you feeding, besides lettuce? They should have a varied diet including both fruits and veggies, pellets and a good quality seed mix if you can find it.

The constant shaking of the leg is concerning, if it's constant then it may be a sign of a neurological problem. But no one here is a vet so we can't really help you determine what is wrong. Nothing beats medical care from a professional. We can only give you guesses. Where exactly are you located in the world??

 

[MonicaMc]

Are you sure you have a male lovebird and not a female lovebird?

Have you tried using these two sites to find a vet that could help?

https://www.aav.org/search/custom.asp?id=1803

https://abvp.com/animal-owners/find-an-abvp-specialist/

 

[codexion]

Thanks for the fast reply.

I highly doubt its anything neurologic though it seems possible.

Im pretty certain the one I had for 2 years is a male and the new one is a female because they truly do the lovebird thing sitting side by side grooming each other etc.

Im feeding them these special small sunflower seeds and regular petshop bird food. they also like to eat some rice/any fruit or veggie we eat which includes everything from oranges to bananas to carrots. And sometimes even actual cooked food.

Ill attach pictures if I can. the white one is the new bird and the green one is the one we had for 2 years. also picture of the food im mixing for them.

as u can see his belly part is still not fully healed and his feathers arent all straight there. I noticed he had a bruise from where he does his droppings up to his chest. asking some petshop he told me that happens when theyre stresseed and stuff. not really sure though. My father put some cream on it saying it would heal and it seems to have worked now there wasnt a bruise when we checked yesterday

im living in Turkey currently. searching online I found 1 avian vetenerian but its a 2-3 hour drive from where I live.

 

[Laurasea]

I'm sorry you have a bird that is not well, I certainly feel for you. Some veggies that are good to add are peppers, hot peppers, bell peppers, squash, pumpkin, sweet potato, on fruits pomegranate, mango, black berry, lettace type romaine, bok choy, spinach. The seeds you pictured aren't ideal, but if you included a little if veggies that will go a long way in providing a good diet. The shaking leg and wing flaps do sound neurological, and can come from nutritional deficiency in diet, or from disease virus, or injury. The large bruise is worries, could be injury, or from liver disease leading to leaky blood vessels or other causes. Possible egg binding if this is a female, or other disease. We aren't vets and truely this is beyond the scope that we would be able to help with. I don't know if you offer cuttle bone, or minerals block, calcium is in veggies too so if they are eating veggies good could get some. You can offer scrambled eggs occasionally, or boiled chopped egg with the shell, just offer small amount and remove after fifteen minutes if they haven't eaten it, or sooner if hot.

 

[codexion]

Managed to lure him out of his cage and take a close picture from the side while hes on my hand. he barely even comes out of the cage now and only sits calmly like hes sleeping when hes outside. his butt is swollen again. I guess he is having pooping problems.

Please note this is the male as far as I know. Even by themselves they appearently lay an egg if theyre females even without mates like once or twice a year but just empty eggs. in the 2 years this one didnt lay any eggs

 

[codexion]

Ive given them that bone thingie and he broke it within a week and kept pushing it to the bottom of the cage even though I tried to fix it to the wall. they have that special rock they use to help their beak and such.

I did give them cooked eggs shells broken down and whole and neither one ate it. not more than some bites the first time.

this is the first time its happening. I will take him to a regular vet who mostly deals with dogs and cats and see what they say as I have one 5 min walking distance from my house.

 

[MonicaMc]

Sorry, but not seeing eggs is not an indication that a bird is a male. Some females never lay eggs.

And the behavior you describe of the two of them together - also not an indication of male/female pair. You could have two males or two females.

The extended stomach leans towards female - females tend to have large droppings around the time that they plan on laying eggs, and if they have a hormonal imbalance, may even retain water in that area. However, I'm not saying that because you see these symptoms, you have a female. Maybe you do have a male and he has some other sort of health issue?


I hope you are able to find a vet that could help out! Please let us know how they are doing!

 

[EllenD]

Monica and Itzjbean have given you great advice/opinions....

The fact that a bird doesn't ever lay an infertile egg is not a way to sex them; female birds can go a lifetime and never lay an egg, and if they are by themselves as your bird was, then it's not uncommon at all for them to not lay any infertile eggs.

Also, the behavior between your two birds that you're describing is not indicative of a male/female pair at all, but rather just a "pair" of birds that is very closely-bonded with each other, they could be two males, two females, or a male/female pair, you have no idea with Love Birds unless you have them DNA tested, or if one of them does lay an egg. And as Itzjbean mentioned, the reason your older bird is no longer interested in people is because you got it another bird, which they naturally would rather bond with and be close to than being bonded with people any longer; that's unfortunately what happens whenever people buy a second bird for their first bird, then they lose their bond with their first bird (not always, but a great deal of the time)...So that behavior of lunging, hissing, growling, biting, acting odd outside of the cage now, etc. is all perfectly normal for your older bird now, as they don't want to be near you, but rather with their new friend/mate that is also a bird.

****All of this being said, you have no idea what sex/gender either of your birds are, and it's very likely that your older bird is actually a female...So naturally what comes to my mind as the possible issue is that your birds may be a male/female pair, but in the opposite gender-assignments that you were thinking...So if this bird with the issues you're describing is a female, she could very well be suffering issue with egg-laying/development.

You need to get a Cuttlebone and/or a Mineral Block made for birds and make sure they are both inside the cage at all times, along with a separate bowl of egg-food, as the number one reason that female birds become egg-bound is a low blood Calcium level. this also ends-up with the Calcium being leeched from their bones by their bodies. So that's why the Cuttlebone, the bird Mineral Block, and the separate dish of Egg-Food is so important, because if this bird is a female and she is having egg issues, if she becomes "Egg-Bound", it is 100% fatal without immediate medical intervention by an Avian Vet. Since you don't have access to an Avian Vet unless you drive 2-3 hours away, you need to ensure that both of your birds are getting ample Calcium every single day (which by the way is well worth the drive for the health of your bird, we in the United States often drive hours and hours one-way to get to the nearest Avian Specialist Vet)...

Other than an egg issue, then it does very much sound like a Neurological issue, either locally in the leg, or at the spinal column. The symptoms you describe and the sudden onset of the symptoms do sound very possibly Neurological, like the bird had some kind of accident, or got into a fight with the other bird, and has impinged a nerve, or actually suffered an injury to the back...It happens when you're not looking, and even the closest of bird-pairs sometime fight...Ultimately if it doesn't resolve itself very, very soon at this point, then you need to make the 2-3 hour drive to the Avian Vet, as the bird could be in pain, and the issue may ultimately either continue to get worse, or it may kill the bird eventually...

 

[DoubleTake]

Everyone seems to have covered everything i hope your baby is okay but it sounds like there needs be some testing done. How long has the new bird been with you? Was there a quarantine phase or any testing done with the new bird? Do they live in the same cage?

Also to note is that your pair are different species and should not breed if they turn out to be male and female. I have a female and my friend has a female, they do the mating dance for each other and feed each other. So it is possible you have a female. It took my dad's amazon 18 years before she laid an egg.

Best wishes to your and your baby.

 

[codexion]

So this is about 2 months later now.Still not sure what the problem was but here is what i did .
I ended up spraying the birds regularly for a week as it was said on the bottle and it slowly fixed the shaking the leg.

And just 2 weeks ago they laid eggs. It appears the one I had was female and the new one was a male. They dont have any problems other than now theyre not coming near me other than food and I cant even get them to stand on my finger etc.

There are 4 eggs total now. My only thought is the female one was having trouble getting an egg out.

They both seem healthy now. Thanks for the suggestions and help u guys provided. Sorry I couldn't reply earlier due to real life being quite busy I ended up I made a post on here.

also I should note that only one of them sits on the eggs the other one only goes near the other one when its nighttime and theyre sleeping they sleep in the egg box thingy.

 

[codexion]

Everyone seems to have covered everything i hope your baby is okay but it sounds like there needs be some testing done. How long has the new bird been with you? Was there a quarantine phase or any testing done with the new bird? Do they live in the same cage?

Also to note is that your pair are different species and should not breed if they turn out to be male and female. I have a female and my friend has a female, they do the mating dance for each other and feed each other. So it is possible you have a female. It took my dad's amazon 18 years before she laid an egg.

Best wishes to your and your baby.

They did end up breeding I Guess. since there is eggs now and one of them is sitting on it. Though Ive heard sometimes birds lay empty eggs so im not really sure.

 

[LordTriggs]

they do sometimes lay eggs that aren't fertile, best option for now, is when she's not focused on the eggs to take them out one by one, boil them for a couple minutes (proper hard boil) then let them cool down and mark ones you've boiled so to not get confused then place it back in the cage for her. Then just check each day to see if new eggs have been laid (rinse and repeat) then just let her sit on the eggs you know wont be able to hatch until she gets bored of them and leaves them alone. then chuck the eggs out. You don't want to chuck eggs before she's bored of them as she will just continue laying more and more and cause her some real issues

 

[itzjbean]

Thanks for the update.

As LTriggs mentioned above, it's best to boil the eggs to ensure if they are fetile that they don't hatch. You don't want to raise babies, it's a mess!!!! Lots of things go wrong and very frequently if you don't know how to help a baby bird you watch it slowly suffer and die.

If the female 'had trouble getting an egg out', make sure you are supplying the pair with calcium like cuttlebone or mineral block to help her from depleting her calcium supply which can cause egg binding (it can be fatal).

There is a possibility that they could be infertile, but you know for sure now that at least one is female. If they will hatch is a mystery but again I warn you about raising lovebirds, it is a very tricky business especially if you have no idea what to expect.

 

[codexion]

they do sometimes lay eggs that aren't fertile, best option for now, is when she's not focused on the eggs to take them out one by one, boil them for a couple minutes (proper hard boil) then let them cool down and mark ones you've boiled so to not get confused then place it back in the cage for her. Then just check each day to see if new eggs have been laid (rinse and repeat) then just let her sit on the eggs you know wont be able to hatch until she gets bored of them and leaves them alone. then chuck the eggs out. You don't want to chuck eggs before she's bored of them as she will just continue laying more and more and cause her some real issues

I dont think I could ever take out the eggs. she never gets out other than to eat or take a bath which only takes like 15 seconds to a minute. even then when I get close she immedieately quits and comes back to bite my hand( happened as we were trying to take a picture of the eggs)


But right now my plain is to let her keep sitting on it as long as she sits. I will share the boiling eggs sneakily idea to my family and see what they say...

 

[ChristaNL]

It's almost christmass, paint them gold and hang them in the tree?


(I seriously though about doing this with my surplus parroteggs -> I emptied them instead of boiling / I filled the first bunch with plaster, so I have 'fake eggs' to switch the new ones with. Though this year I managed to prevent the egglaying, pfffft, one less worrie.)

 

[EllenD]

You definitely do not want to allow them to hatch...The problem becomes what will you do if the parents refuse to feed them or care for them? Then you'd either have to let them suffer and die of starvation/dehydration, or you have to buy/build a Brooder to keep them at the correct ambient temperature of 95 degrees, buy hand-feeding formula and a candy/cooking thermometer, and an eye dropper, and be mixing-up formula that is always between 104-110 degrees F, and feed each chick once every 2-3 hours for the first 3-4 weeks (including overnight), then at 4 weeks it's every 3-4 hours and then can go overnight 6 hours, then at 5 weeks old forward it's every 4-5 hours and overnight for 6 hours. And if the formula is even one degree too cold they can develop horrible fungal infections, if it's even one degree too high it will burn their crops, and that's not even discussing hand-feeding technique and how hard it is to feed a newly-hatched chick without aspirating the formula into their lungs, etc.

So unless you're an experienced breeder/hand-raiser, it's best to remove each egg as they are laid, boil them for 20 minutes, let them cool, then put each egg back into the nest-box, and allow mom to lay on the entire clutch of boiled eggs until she realizes they aren't going to hatch and loses interest in them...Than when she finally stops laying on them you can remove them and throw them away...If you do it this way it will help to keep mom from laying another clutch of eggs directly after this one...If you simply remove each egg and throw it away immediately and you don't allow her to lay on them, she'll simply keep laying egg after egg after egg...So that's why it's very important that you boil each egg right after it's laid, so you can put it right back in the nest box after it cools.

As far as pulling the eggs out of the nest box, you need to find/cut a piece of cardboard the right size so it will fit into the nest-box and block the entrance...Then wait until she leaves the nest-box and immediately put the piece of cardboard inside the nest-box to block the entrance so she can't come back in...Then remove the egg, boil it for 20 minutes, let it cool, put it back in the nest-box, then remove the piece of cardboard. And do this same thing for each additional egg she lays, as soon as she lays it...

 

[ChristaNL]

Oh, and mark the egg (little dot) so you know which ones have been boiled and what the new one is.